Upper body exercise device

ABSTRACT

An upper body exercise device includes a central tube supported at a first height by at least two legs. A pair of wings is hingedly connected to the central tube. Each wing includes a pair of parallel arcuate rails, each rail having an outer end opposite the central tube, and each rail having a nadir at a second height lower than the first height. A hand slider is slidably supported on top of the pair of parallel arcuate rails of each of the pair of wings. Each hand slider includes a grip and a friction mitigation unit connected to the grip. Each hand slider is slidable along the pair of parallel arcuate rails between the central tube and the outer ends of the pair of parallel arcuate rails. The wings can be rotated about the central tube between an exercise configuration and a storage configuration.

FIELD

The following description relates generally to exercise equipment, and more particularly to upper body exercise devices.

BACKGROUND

Fitness experts and athletes are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of a strong “core” to overall fitness and athletic ability. Among the most important core muscles are muscles in the chest, back and arms, as well as the abdominal muscles. These upper body muscles can be exercised without the use of any exercise equipment, for example by doing pushups, chin-ups, abdominal crunches or sit-ups. However, performing these exercises poses risk of injury, especially to the lower back, if the person does not use proper technique and/or is not in good physical shape. Although exercise machines specifically designed to exercise upper body muscles are common, these machines are often very expensive and occupy a great deal of space in a room. It is therefore desirable to provide a piece of fitness equipment that allows people to exercise their upper body muscles safely using consistent form, but without the need for an overly-complex, expensive or large machine.

One example of a known upper body exercise device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,162 to Landers et al. However, the device disclosed in Landers et al. is relatively large and bulky. Further, it lacks the ability to be converted into a storage configuration that occupies less space relative to its exercise configuration. Finally, the Landers et al. device also does not provide the user with any feedback such as a count of repetitions. Accordingly, there remains a need for an upper body exercise device that allows users to safely perform upper body exercises, but that also occupies a small amount of space in storage and provides feedback to the user.

SUMMARY

The following simplified summary is provided in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the claimed subject matter. This summary is not an extensive overview, and is not intended to identify key/critical elements or to delineate the scope of the claimed subject matter. Its purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In one aspect of the disclosed embodiments, an upper body exercise device includes a central tube supported at a first height by at least two legs. A pair of wings is hingedly connected to the central tube. Each wing includes a pair of parallel arcuate rails, each rail having an outer end opposite the central tube, and each rail having a nadir at a second height lower than the first height. A strut connects the outer ends of the pair of parallel arcuate rails, and two rail legs support the outer ends of the pair of parallel arcuate rails. A hand slider is slidably supported on top of the pair of parallel arcuate rails of each of the pair of wings. Each hand slider includes a grip and a friction mitigation unit connected to the grip. Each hand slider is slidable along the pair of parallel arcuate rails between the central tube and the outer ends of the pair of parallel arcuate rails. The pair of wings are rotatable about the central tube between an active exercise configuration and a storage configuration.

In some embodiments, the friction mitigation unit of each hand slider is a pair of wheels or a low-friction pad. Each hand slider may also include a pair of end caps in which the friction mitigation unit is mounted. The grip may be rotatably connected to the end caps. Wheels may be mounted in the end cap spaced below the grip and equidistant from each other. Each hand slider may also include a repetition counter that counts the number of repetitions completed by the user. Finally, in some embodiments, the outer ends the pair of parallel arcuate rails are at the same height as the central tube.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certain illustrative aspects are described herein in connection with the following description and the annexed drawings. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the claimed subject matter may be employed and the claimed subject matter is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features may become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an upper body exercise device, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view of the upper body exercise device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the upper body exercise device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a front elevation view of the upper body exercise device of FIG. 1, shown in a storage configuration.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an enhanced version of the upper body exercise of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In one aspect of the disclosed embodiments, an upper body exercise device includes a central tube connected to two wings. Each wing includes a pair of parallel arcuate rails that slidably supports a hand slider. The rails serve as guide tracks for the hand sliders. The central tube and the outer ends of the wings are elevated and the arcuate rails have a nadir between the central tube and the outer end of the rails. The user can perform a wide variety of exercises by placing his or her hands on the hand sliders and working to move the sliders along the track against the resistance provided by the user's bodyweight.

FIGS. 1-3 show a perspective view of one embodiment of an upper body exercise device in an active exercise configuration. FIG. 4 shows the embodiment of FIGS. 1-4 in a collapsed storage configuration. Upper body exercise device 10 includes central tube 12 which is supported at a predetermined height above of the floor by central legs 14. A pair of wings 20 is hingedly connected to central tube 12 by hinge 21. In this embodiment, both wings 20 are identical, although that is not necessarily the case in all embodiments. Each wing 20 slidably supports one hand slider 30. Again, in this embodiment, the two hand sliders 30 are identical, but in other embodiments the hand sliders may be different from each other.

Each wing 20 is formed from a pair of parallel arcuate rails 22 which are connected to one another near their outer ends by strut 24. As used herein, the term “outer end” refers to the end of wing 20 or parallel arcuate rails 22 furthest from central tube 12. The outer ends of parallel arcuate rails 22 are connected to, or bent to form, rail legs 26. A second strut, such as interior strut 28, may also connect parallel arcuate rails 22 in order to provide increased structural rigidity. Rail legs 26 support the outer ends of parallel arcuate rails 22 at a predetermined height above the floor. In this embodiment, the outer ends of parallel arcuate rails 22 are supported at substantially the same height above the floor as central tube 12. Due to the arcuate shape of rails 22, there is a low point (nadir 40) between the outer ends of the rails and central tube 12. Thus, hand sliders 30 will tend to gravitate toward nadir 40 when the user is at rest.

Each hand slider 30 includes grip 32 and two end caps 34. Grip 32 is rotatably mounted between end caps 34 so that the user's hand does not have to slide around grip 32 as hand slider 32 moves along parallel arcuate rails 22. For example, grip 32 may be connected to end caps 34 via a rotatable bearing. A friction mitigation unit, such as a pair of wheels 36, is used to decrease the friction between hand sliders 30 and parallel arcuate rails 22 so that hand sliders 30 slide along parallel arcuate rails 22 more easily. Alternatively, or in addition to wheels 36, the friction mitigation unit may include a low-friction pad. Additionally, parallel arcuate rails 22 may be lubricated to further decrease friction. In this embodiment, two wheels 36 are mounted on bearings in end caps 34 below grip 32 and equidistant from one another. In other words, the axes of wheels 36 and grip 32 are all parallel to one another and arranged in a triangular configuration (when viewed from a plane orthogonal to the axes), with grip 32 at the apex of the triangle and wheels 36 forming the two base points of the triangle. This triangular configuration of the axes of wheels 36 and grip 32, especially when forming an equilateral or isosceles triangle, is a particularly stable configuration that allows for smooth travel of hand slider 30 along parallel arcuate rails 22.

To further increase the stability of hand slider 30, wheels 36 may have a smaller diameter at their centers than at their ends. This tapered profile mirrors the profile of parallel arcuate rails 22 so that wheels 36 tend to stay engaged with parallel arcuate rails 22 even if the user fails to push hand slider 30 in precisely the same direction as parallel arcuate rails 22. Finally, end caps 34 may also be provided with a protruding lip on their lower edge which extends underneath parallel arcuate rails 22. This lip prevents hand slider 30 from becoming disengaged from parallel arcuate rails 22 even if the user attempts to life hand slider 30 from parallel arcuate rails 22.

As mentioned above, each wing 20 is hingedly connected to central tube 12. This hinged connection may be accomplished using hinge 21. Alternatively the inner ends of parallel arcuate rails 22 may include short sleeve portions with a diameter slightly larger than central tube 12. These sleeves may be placed over central tube 12 so that parallel arcuate rails 22 are rotatable about central tube 12. One advantage of the hinged connection between wings 20 and central tube 12 is that it allows upper body exercise device 10 to have both an active exercise configuration (shown in FIGS. 1-3) and a collapsed storage configuration (shown in FIG. 4). A locking mechanism such as a locking pin may be provided to temporarily lock upper body exercise device 10 in either the exercise or storage configurations.

Upper body exercise device 10 is primarily used for exercising the chest, arm, shoulder, back and abdominal muscles. hi one possible exercise, the user assumes a pushup position with his or her hands gripping hand sliders 30. The user can then exercise the upper body by moving hand sliders 30 alternately toward and away from central tube 12. In this embodiment, all of the resistance is provided by the user's bodyweight. In other embodiments, however, elastic resistance elements may be attached to hand sliders 30 in order to increase the difficulty of the exercises. in another possible exercise, the user is aligned perpendicular to central tube 12 at one end of upper body exercise device 10. The user places both hands on one hand slider 30 then leans forward into a prone position, thereby sliding hand slider 30 away from the user along parallel arcuate rails 30. The user completes the repetition by returning to the starting position, with the user's hands closer to the body and rear end in the air.

One aspect of upper body exercise device 10 that improves the quality of the user's workout is the arcuate shape of parallel arcuate rails 22. Instead of traveling in a straight line in a horizontal plane, hand sliders 30 travel in a gradual arc. This arcuate range of motion more closely mimics the natural motion of the human body as compared with a straight horizontal line. In this embodiment parallel arcuate rails 22 have approximately a 46 inch radius. It is to be understood, however, that smaller or larger radii of parallel arcuate rails 22 are also contemplated.

An optional enhancement of upper body exercise device 10 is an electronic repetition counter, such as counter 40 shown in FIG. 5. In this embodiment, counter 40 is a liquid crystal display that displays the number of repetitions the user has completed during a current exercise routine. Counter 40 could also be configured to display other information such as a timer, calories burned, or a heart rate monitor. Counter 40 is in communication with a sensor (not shown) that can detect when hand slider 30 passes. For example, the sensor may be a magnetic sensor embedded in parallel arcuate rails 22 that detects the metal in hand slider 30 each time it passes, and then sends a signal to counter 40. Alternatively, a sensor in one or more of wheels 36 may count the number of rotations the wheel makes. By comparing the number of rotations the wheel has made with the number of rotations required to travel the entire length of parallel arcuate rails 22, the number of repetitions performed can be determined. This information could be wirelessly transferred to counter 40 using known wireless communication protocols.

The materials used to build upper body exercise device 10 are not critical. However, in one embodiment, central tube 12 and wings 20 are made from steel tubes. Although the dimensions of the various parts of upper body exercise device 10 are also not critical, in one embodiment central tube 12 has a four inch diameter and is twelve inches long. Central legs 14 are also made from four inch diameter steel tube and support central tube 12 five inches above the ground. Parallel arcuate rails 22 are made from approximately 26 inch long steel tubes with approximately a 1.5 inch diameter. In this embodiment, parallel arcuate rails 22 are spaced about ten inches apart across their entire lengths. Hand sliders 30, particularly end caps 34, may also be made from steel, though grip 32 may be rubber or rubber over a steel core. Wheels 36 are made from rubber, polyurethane, or any other suitable material.

What has been described above includes examples of one or more embodiments. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the aforementioned embodiments, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations of various embodiments are possible. Accordingly, the described embodiments are intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, to the extent that the term “includes” is used in either the detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising” is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An upper body exercise device, comprising: a central tube supported at a first height by at least two legs; a pair of wings hingedly connected to the central tube, each wing comprising: a pair of parallel arcuate rails, each rail having an outer end opposite the central tube, and each rail having a nadir at a second height lower than the first height; a strut connecting the outer ends of the pair of parallel arcuate rails; and two rail legs supporting the outer ends of the pair of parallel arcuate rails; and a hand slider slidably supported on top of the pair of parallel arcuate rails of each of the pair of wings, each hand slider comprising a grip and a friction mitigation unit connected to the grip; wherein each hand slider is slidable along the pair of parallel arcuate rails between the central tube and the outer ends of the pair of parallel arcuate rails; and wherein the pair of wings are rotatable about the central tube between an active exercise configuration and a storage configuration.
 2. The upper body exercise device of claim 1, wherein the friction mitigation unit of each hand slider is a pair of wheels.
 3. The upper body exercise device of claim 2, wherein each hand slider further comprises a pair of end caps in which the pair of wheels is mounted.
 4. The upper body exercise device of claim 3, wherein the wheels are mounted in the end cap spaced below the grip and equidistant from each other.
 5. The upper body exercise device of claim 1, wherein the friction mitigation unit of each san slider is a low-friction pad.
 6. The upper body exercise device of claim 1, where the outer ends the pair of parallel arcuate rails are at the first height.
 7. The upper body exercise device of claim 1, wherein each hand slider further comprises a repetition counter.
 8. The upper body exercise device of claim 2, wherein the grip is rotatably connected to the pair of end caps. 